Hillary Clinton’s delay: Freezing the field or human shield?

“Nobody’s going after Cuomo — they’re not even going after Joe [Biden],” said Rendell.

Still, Hillary Clinton’s delayed decision, as super PACs have sprouted up around, has frustrated some Democrats. The concern has taken on a more urgent tone in private conversations among Democrats who know that some of Clinton’s close friends are urging her to take a pass.

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Those Democrats see less of a parallel to Cuomo than to George W. Bush in 2000, when the legacy candidate was able to put a stranglehold on the party machinery, keeping any other prospective challengers — save for a late-charging Sen. John McCain — at bay.

“It may have a modest impact in slowing down the B-team candidates from ramping up if she opts out, and that’s not ideal,” said Dan Gerstein, who worked on Joe Lieberman’s independent Senate run.

An adviser to one potential 2016 hopeful said that building a campaign is “simply just not doable right now. Any candidate who gets out there will get spanked by the national donors — the donor class is singularly waiting for Hillary. It’s just not worth it.”

Gerstein added, however, that “it would be far worse for the party if she is pressured into committing early, the Republicans use that long lead time to wound her, and we take what looks like a lock now and turn it into a jump ball or even a loss.

Several Clinton insiders said they don’t expect her to make a decision clear until after the November midterm election.

Those sources said that Clinton’s team is cognizant of how her timing may affect other presidential hopefuls, but they said that she’s done nothing to directly dissuade other Democrats from campaigning.

Other Democrats called the worries overblown.

“I think the notion that Hillary Clinton is hurting anybody by not making a decision in early 2014 is patently absurd,” said Obama’s pollster, Joel Benenson.

Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a top Clinton surrogate during the 2008 campaign, said that any prospective candidate who’s holding back because of Clinton has only themself to blame.

“If you want to go out and meet people [in early states], do it,” said Strickland. “Don’t try to hold Sec. Clinton responsible for what you as a candidate may or may not do.”

O’Malley and Biden appear to be the least inhibited by a potential Clinton bid.

“I have a great deal of respect for Hillary Clinton,” O’Malley told The Washington Post last month. But “to squander this important period of preparation because of horse-race concerns and handicapping concerns is just not a very productive use of energy,” he said. “Right now, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing — the thought work and the preparation work.”

Aides to the Maryland governor declined to comment.

A source close to Biden, meanwhile, pointed to the vice president’s comment earlier this year to Barbara Walters that “whether she [Hillary Clinton] runs or not will not affect my decision.” POLITICO Magazine reported last month that Biden’s advisers have begun mapping out an early strategy.

Democrats privately say the frozen status of the race inhibits other candidates from building campaign organizations. That’s less of an issue for someone like Biden, who has a strong donor network and supporters, or Gillibrand, who has two PACs of her own, than it is for a small-state governor like O’Malley.

Even with Clinton-era donors excited about a potential run, a number of fundraisers have a sense of fatigue after the exhaustive 2008 and 2012 campaigns, and welcome the reprieve that Clinton’s delay is providing.

What’s more, it’s unlikely that some of the lower-profile Democrats could make up for lost ground by leaning on a single wealthy patron. In 2012, both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were kept alive by individual donors who pumped millions into super PACs devoted to their candidacies. Democratic donors have had less of an interest in funding super PACs.

Still, many Democrats are trying to bring the party’s focus back to 2014 and a dicey midterm cycle, and Clinton’s wait to make her intentions known may help.

“It freezes a lot of fundraising activity, but my guess is there are people who are in competitive ’14 races who are not unhappy about that,” said Jeff Link, an Obama 2008 campaign official based in Iowa. “There’s trade-offs depending on your perspective on it.”

Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, said that “realistically, I realize no one wants to go up against the Hillary Juggernaut. But really, if 10 months from now she decides she’s not running, the candidates with real support should have no problem building what they need to run a credible campaign.”

“It may not be enough time to buy support, but those Democrats who have spent time cultivating a real grass-roots base should have no trouble,” he added. “Worst case, everyone will be equally disadvantaged, which means an even playing field. And that’s all that matters.”